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Economic forecasts were becoming increasingly gloomy for all European
Union countries and not just for Greece, government spokesman Evangelos
Antonaros stressed in statements to reporters on Wednesday.

"The prospects are unfavourable. The situation is not good and
predictions for an increase in deficits apply to all countries," he
said, reporting on Wednesday's inner cabinet meeting that focused on
the economy. He warned that no predictions could be made with
confidence, since the crisis was still unfolding.

The spokesman underlined that several of the figures released by the
European Commission for deficit, unemployment and growth in other
European countries were worse than those for Greece.

Antonaros said that the government had chosen the responsible path of
telling people the whole truth and taking the measures, improvement and
adjustments needed to exit from the crisis as quickly as possible with
the fewest possible negative repercussions.

He went on to dismissed criticism from main opposition PASOK leader
George Papandreou regarding the government's handling of economic
affairs, accusing the main opposition leader of deliberately ignoring
what was happening in the international arena and pointing out that 13
of the 16 countries in the Eurozone would have deficits higher than 3
percent in 2009 and at least three had deficits higher than that of
Greece.

"Mr. Papandreou does not realise, or does not want to realise, that if
there had not been changes, reforms and structural adjustments in the
last five years then the country would be in a much worse position," he
added.

In a brief address before the Finnish Parliament, Papoulias pointed out
the need to "expand democracy to the social and economic sector," and
to "minimise the democracy deficit in the EU."

He also called for "better understanding within the EU to avoid
disappointing our peoples," stressing that "speaking about Greece,
there is indeed a sense of disappointment stemming from the EU ... This
is due to the EU red tape and to certain big countries that want to
play a leading role in the EU rejecting the democratic equality of all
its members," he clarified.

Papoulias underlined the momentum characterising bilateral relations
and referred to Greece's OSCE chairmanship for 2009, saying that "we
are following Finland's steps and I hope that we will be equally
successful, despite the fact that now we are faced with more problems."

The Finnish parliament speaker issued an invitation to Greek Parliament
President Dimitris Sioufas to visit Finland.

Later, Papoulias attended a mass at Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki, led
by the head of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Karelia and
All Finland Leo, and the head of its most populous Helsinki diocese,
Metropolitan Ambrosius. In the evening, he is scheduled to address a
seminar organised by the Finnish Committee for the Restitution of the
Parthenon Marbles at the Helsinki University.

Earlier on Wednesday morning Papoulias attended an event by the
Greece-Finland Business Forum that was addressed by Deputy Foreign
Minister Miltiades Varvitsiotis, who underlined Athens' political will
to promote bilateral economic and commercial cooperation with
Helsinki.

Varvitsiotis pointed out that "opportunities are always present despite
the ongoing economic crisis," stressing that "the two countries can
further strengthen their cooperation." He underlined Greece's central
role in the economic progress of SE Europe, adding that it can
facilitate the Finnish businesses that wish to become active in the
region's rapidly developing market. He stressed that "the same can be
done in the case of the Black Sea countries with which Greece has
forged strong economic relations," pointing out "the rising
geo-strategic importance of the specific region for obvious reasons."

Varvitsiotis referred to the economic crisis, underlining that Greece,
as a member of the Euro-zone, enjoys political and economic stability
and has the largest per capita income in the region.

The deputy FM also underlined that last year Greece had a satisfactory
rate of exports, reminded that it has the third largest commercial
fleet in the world and referred extensively to the government measures
adopted to protect the Greek economy from the global economic crisis.

On the sector of renewable energy sources, he stressed that the ideal
climate conditions in Greece allow for new investments in clean
energy.

Caption: Orthodox Archbishop of Karelia and All Finland Leo (R)
receives Greek President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on
Wednesday, May 6, 2009, in Helsinki's 19th century Uspenski Cathedral.
ANA-MPA / V. VARDOULAKIS